String of Pearls - Flow
Today you come in through the side entrance, the one half-hidden behind a jasmine that's gotten out of hand. The jasmine grabs your sleeve. You untangle yourself and step inside.
Theo is up on a ladder in the succulent wing, hanging pots from ceiling hooks. He's got one balanced on his shoulder like a parrot. He glances down at you.
"You've been measuring yourself wrong," he says from up there. Matter-of-fact. Like he's telling you the time.
He climbs down, one hand steadying the hanging pot, and brings it to eye level. The string of pearls cascades from the rim like a green waterfall frozen mid-pour. Dozens of thin stems, each threaded with bead-shaped leaves -- perfect little spheres, translucent green, strung together in strands that hang two feet below the pot and sway gently in the air from the vent.
"Everyone puts their plants on shelves," Theo says. "Everything grows up. Taller is better. Higher is more. That's how we measure." He lifts the pot higher, and the strands lengthen below it, swaying like kelp in a current. "This plant looked at up and said no thanks."
He hooks it on a ceiling mount. The pearls dangle into the space between the shelves, catching the grow light so each bead glows from within. It looks like a chandelier designed by something that lives in the ocean.
"In the wild," Theo says, "this plant grows along the ground. Spreads sideways. Trails off cliffs. Finds cracks in rocks and pours itself through them. It has absolutely no interest in being tall." He touches one strand and it swings gently, the pearls clicking against each other like a beaded curtain. "And it's one of the most sought-after plants in the world."
You watch the strands move in the warm air. There's something deeply relaxing about a living thing that flows instead of strives. That spills instead of climbs.
"Growth doesn't have to be upward," Theo says. He steps back and looks at the hanging plant with something close to admiration. "Spilling over is also progress."
String of Pearls Succulent - Flow
Fior Fiore Plant Shop
$0.99
Growth doesn't have to be upward. Spilling over is also progress.